Author: edstromkristin

For those of you who have heard me speak or read my past blog entries, you know that when I speak of Ed, I’m not talking about a physical human being I know. I am definitely, though, talking about someone I know all too well: my eating disorder. When I spell his initials, it is of course – Ed. He’s not just special to me, although he most definitely makes me feel that I am his most special prize. He’s known by millions around the world – intimately, lovingingly, longingly, mysteriously known.

I wish I would have never met Ed. I wish his cunning, seductive ways never entered into my life. Many times I ask myself why I ever let such a cruel, heartbreaking, soul crushing individual in. Someone who has taken and destroyed so much of my soul. Someone who has stolen precious moments with cherished people that I will never get back. Yet I believe it is all for a purpose and for a reason. Sometimes I struggle to put a finger on exactly what that purpose or reason is, but alas, here I am.

Sometimes I think it’s for the parents of kids going through eating disorders. The kids whose lives Ed has invaded. Parents who now find themselves alienated from the children they once knew so well. And not only alienated but turned against. I write, I speak, I talk, and I counsel so those parents hold out hope that their kid may have a chance at a life. That this hopeless despair won’t last forever. That they can talk to someone who has been in their child’s shoes, someone that believed dying was the better option than gaining half a pound.

I write for the individuals who have no clue who this monster – that they allowed in their life – is. Those who bought into the lies of Ed. Who listened when he told them it would be easy and lovely and so much better if they obeyed his ways. I want those people to know that they are not crazy and it is not them, it’s someone who they met. They gave that person – Ed – too much, but now they can unfriend. They can separate themselves. They can have a better, freer life.

I do it for my daughters. I hope with all that is within me that my girls never meet Ed, but chances are they will know about him. I want them to have the facts and know the repercussions of letting him in. I want them to learn from me all about this horrible creature who takes so much and gives nothing in return. I want them to get the word out to their generation to be strong, proud women who are capable and knowledgeable and who blaze trails of empowerment for themselves and those around them.

And lastly, but most certainly not in the least, I do it for myself. I do it because I know that I am worth the fight against Ed, that although I know him I don’t have to let him control me. I fight against him daily because I know that there is a better, free-er, lovelier path in life than listening to and obeying his lies. There are most certainly days of weakness, fatigue, frailty when I am caught off guard that Ed can bring me down, although with each conscious choice I make to disagree and disobey Ed I gain ground . As much as I try to safeguard my house against his presence and seal every crack, there are days where he finds the hairline fracture in my solid structure and he gets in. He gets into my head, into my body, and into my heart… and so, I fight on. I recognize when Ed is in my life and I rebuild, reseal and restore.

I won’t stop fighting. I won’t stop getting the message out there about who Ed is and I will forever more work to give families and those struggling with eating disorders hope for a better, more vibrant future and prove to the world he can be beat.

It’s really no surprise that an NFL aficionado like myself would pick up former NFL player and coach Tony Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength, and decide, “Yep, that’s the book for me to read over Christmas break 2017.” I do love a good biography and since purchasing the book at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit that Tony spoke at back in 2010, it has sat on my bookshelf starting me down – literally. The front cover is a picture of Tony when he was the head coach of the Colt’s (look at my NFL knowledge – it’s blowing your mind isn’t it?!) with headset on and a stern look on his face that conveys, “Pick up this book and read it…. NOW! Hut! Hut! Hike!”

To be honest, I really am not that much of an NFL fan. I do LOVE going to Seahawks games and watching the Super Bowl halftime shows and of course I get Derek’s weekly Fantasy Football updates but that is the extent. However, I felt a nudge to pick this book up from my shelf and take it with me to Palm Springs this past month. Within the first few pages, I could tell already why I felt God prompt me to take this book. It is a leadership book that is different than most. It focuses on leadership through service and an unwavering dedication to that which really matters in life. Tony wrote, “We often can’t see what God is doing in our lives, but God sees the whole picture and His plan for us clearly.”

I know Tony was not the first, and will not be the last, to attest to the simple truth that God sees the whole picture, but for some reason over Christmas that simple truth made me pause.

Often I get caught up in the busyness of everyday life. Mornings start with an alarm clock named Stella coming into our room at an unconscionable hour, prying us from delicious slumber and the day is off to a blazing start. Lists are crossed off, errands are ran and life doesn’t stop until the dishwasher is empty, the dryer is on and Gerry our dog has gone out for one last pit stop.

In the midst of the haste I think I know what I want for my future, but I get carried away in the need for control. I feel my shoulders tensing all day long just hoping everything goes according to plan and nothing gets derailed. Then I read words like Tony’s and I breath a massive sigh of relief, resting in the knowledge that it’s not my story after all, it’s God’s story. He constructed a narrative for me long before I ever existed on earth, a plan He handcrafted uniquely for me, a story where He already worked out the kinks and details, a journey that will allow me to rest in the assurance that I am daily living out my life purpose.

There is a song I have been listening to called Control by Tenth Avenue North that ties in this concept of God having a plan for my life and having the knowledge of knowing He has a plan for me to give Him control of my life.

I’ve had plans

Shattered and broken

Things I have hoped in

Fall through my hands

You have plans

To redeem and restore me

You’re behind and before me

Oh help me believe

God You don’t need me

But somehow You want me

Oh how You love me

Somehow that frees me

To take my hands off of my life

And the way it should go

God You don’t need me

But somehow You want me

Oh how You love me

Somehow that frees me

To open my hands up

And give You control

God has a plan for my life and His plan is exponentially more amazing than any plan of mine. In Ephesians 3:20 Paul describes all that God is able to do in each one of us as “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”.

Just think about that for a second.

Imagine your most incredible, far reaching dreams. Imagine the things that seem impossible to you right now, aspirations that seem like wishful thinking….do you have some of those hopes and dreams in your mind ? Those pale in comparison to what God has in store for you! The only question that remains is: are we willing to give up control and let Him do what He has the power to do in our lives?

Life unfolds better than I could ever imagine every time I intentionally stop myself in the busyness of life and picture myself in my car (which is a metaphor for my life), taking my white knuckle gripped hands off the wheel of control, exiting my body out of the driver’s seat, opening the door and going around to the passengers side, sinking into the seat, and allowing God to take control of the wheel. Every. Single. Time.

So today, I encourage you to take Tony’s advice. Be the passenger. Go along for the drive! Trust Him, He’s got the only map you’ll ever need. You’ll go to places far beyond anything you’ve imagined.

It’s true, that’s what I am, a perfectionist, or for those more comfortable with letters, I would be an A type. Because I am a perfectionist this blog post almost never got blogged (don’t let your bad grammar stop you Kristin!) and here is why…it’s because of thoughts like these ones listed below, thoughts that I have more than I would like to admit.

Who is going to read what you write?

Don’t even start writing it, it will never be good enough

Someone else will do it way better than you

Someone else has already done it way better than you

You’ll make so many mistakes and everyone will point them out

or maybe they won’t point them out to you, but they’ll secretly judge you and then when the see you they’ll be thinking, “Oh, that’s Kristin, the one with the pointless, grammatically incorrectly, irrelevant blog.”

Shouldn’t you be doing the laundry, dishes, thinking about meals to make your family (that will never actually come to fruition), cleaning around the Keurig machine for 17 minutes like you did this morning….you know, doing anything else other than sharing your thoughts with the world?

And that is just the tip of the perfectionist iceberg.

I feel this pressure that if I start something it has to be perfect, so when I get 10 letters, 10 words, 10 paragraphs in and it’s not what I consider “good enough” I scrap the whole thing and then beat myself up for how much precious time by myself I have wasted and now how much more I have to do in other parts of my life that could have been done already had I not wasted all this time on something that someone else is already doing better than me. (I purposely put no punctuation in that paragraph because that’s how fast my thoughts flow, there is no time for punctuation in my thoughts!)

Yep, it’s rambly (and yes, I will be making up words) and circular reasoning, but it’s my mind.

Add to that the physical sensations that come with it….a heart that feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest, sweaty hands and feet, inability to focus and basically what you have is a typical day in the life of Kristin Edstrom.

I know to the outside world (or so I have heard) I seem very calm, cool and ever so collected. Chilled, relaxed, mellow, go with the flow. So basically what I am is a pretty good actor, because most days, I don’t feel that way. I feel frantic, stressed, burdened, guilty… so, so guilty about never doing enough, being enough, listening enough, producing enough, cleaning enough, being present with my kids enough, cooking healthy food enough, budgeting enough, educating myself enough, relaxing during the moments I have alone enough – can anyone relate to that feeling of hurry up and relax already I’ve only got 45 minute and then I’ve go to be home to relieve whoever is looking after the kids and be thrown full force into the parade of snack requesting, washer emptying, dryer loading, folding, junk removaling (look for that one under the “new words” category in Merriam-Webster 2021 version), vacuuming bliss that I feel is my life.

So how does this not drive me insane? I am tensing up just thinking about it.

Well, I have learned a few tricks over the years (I find therapists become therapists because they know the benefit of therapy through personal experience, be it with another counsellor or through the work they’ve done themselves in their own lives.)

The first thing I do is to breath. I used to hate it when this was a suggestion for calming down. I mean honestly, “thanks Einstein” for that riveting revelation (and alliteration while I am at it). But seriously, deep breathing is like a freaking day at the spa when you do it correctly…and by doing it correctly, all I mean is trying to take the deepest breath you can, hold it for a second or two and release it fully (there, I just saved you from purchasing a $5,000 yoga pass). Breathing…..even as I write about it, I just took a deep breath and it feels so good.

Secondly, let’s talk about electronics. “I want to throw my phone into the lake.” is a true sentence I said with gusto to my husband 26 days ago. Yes, we have technology to thank in regards to many advances we have made as a society, but sometimes I also have technology to thank for my sweaty palms and increased heart rate.

I can have fairly good concentration and then a text message comes in and it’s like a virtual squirrel in my mind and my whole train of thought (which let’s be honest, as a mom is slightly derailed 87% of the time anyways) comes off the tracks completely.

So I have silenced the texts and put my phone away. I try to only look at it a few times a day (I am in training for that) and take 5 – 10 minute chunks of time two times a day or so to respond. My closest friends know that I won’t respond to them right away and it’s not a sign of disrespect, it’s rather a sign of respect for myself and when I can respect myself, I can better serve and respond to others.

Lastly and absolutely most importantly, I have the power of God on my side. To know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my worries, my stress, my anxiety can all be calmed when I give them over to God, that is seriously the best news ever. God is absolutely unbelievably awesome when it comes to relieving all my anxiety and worry when I just give it to Him – but I gots to give it to Him and that means giving up control, and not having control does not sit will with a perfectionist.

However, there are mornings when I literally open my google calendar and with anxious thoughts racing at the sight of all the tasks I need to accomplish in one week, one day, one hour, I just pray, “God, may my agenda be your agenda.” Any it happens. On days when I do that, when I give up the control and give it over to God my days work out seamlessly. What needs to get done gets done and I don’t stress about the things that don’t matter at all. Conversely, if I tried to control my day, EVERYTHING would matter, I wouldn’t focus on the things I actually got done, I would just stew and worry and fret about all the tasks that went unfinished. So yes, giving my perfectionistic way to the one who makes things work perfectly is absolutely essential.

So there we are, a brief look into the day in the life of a perfectionist and how I cope.

For the record, this is a purposely unedited blog post because to make it perfect would mean that it would never exist. There is beauty in the imperfect and when we can open ourselves up to the gift that imperfection (nod to Brene Brown) can be in our lives, a beautiful, rich, meaningful, purposeful, joyful life unfolds.

I know I’m not alone when I say, “Hello, my name is Kristin Edstrom and I struggle to say, “no”.” It’s taken me awhile to get to this point in my life – and still each day is a battle to stop my habit of saying, “yes” too quickly. The following is a letter to myself, incase I ever forget about the importance of saying “no”.

Kristin,

You have had a long track record of being a people-pleasing, overachieving, perfectionist who definitely has a fear of missing out, #fomo. Yet, you feel that you have come to a point in your life where you are looking at the trajectory of your life and wondering, “If I don’t start saying “no” what is going to give?”

You have recognized that most important principle of learning to say no is this: when you say “yes” to one thing, you are always subsequently saying “no” to another. This is called “opportunity costs”, and, as you’ll recall, it’s the only aspect of your first year economics course that stuck with you.

Remember that day when you came to the realization that choosing to see another client in the evening because their schedule didn’t line up with yours meant that you were basically telling your girls “no” (not explicitly but subliminally)? When you said yes to a bend in your schedule, you told your girls: “I’m not going to spend time with you right now giving you a bath, reading you stories and tucking you into bed tonight because fitting one more client in is more important than spending time with you.”

So, when you choose to look at your phone or take a call when your kids are around and wanting your attention, you are choosing to say “yes” to looking and perhaps responding to that text message. By saying “yes” to the phone check, you said “no” to paying attention to your kids. In not so many words, perhaps no words at all, you tell your girls that your phone and whoever is on the other end of it is more important than them. You are teaching them, through modeled behavior, that it is ok to do that to you and other people in their lives.

Remember Kristin, Lily and Stella won’t outright tell this to you, but rest assured that a “yes” to something society is pulling you towards is almost always a “no” to them.

Kristin, there will come a time when you want your girls to ask you to drop them off inside at their classroom, that you will want them to ask you to go to Boston Pizza on a Thursday after school – just the two of you, that you will miss those times that they take you by the hand and show you the drawing of you that they have been working on – there will be times when you are wanting to blurt out “YES!” to them and the only thing you will receive in return will be a car door in your face before you can even get out the words, “I love you!” at school drop off, you will be wanting that invite to a private date at Boston Pizza after school, but instead receive a text asking if they can go over to a friend’s house to have pizza, you will be waiting for them with pencil crayons sharpened and ready to draw with them, only to find out they’re staying out late.

Your kids in absolutely every way right now are asking you to be the stars in their life. They are asking you in tangible and intangible ways, directly and indirectly to be their centers – to come alongside of them and give them security, admiration, encouragement, a place they can be safe and secure…..they want more than anything right now for you to be their biggest allies, best friends and constants.

These moments and years are fleeting, you are told that and feel that fleetingness on the daily. You know that in time, you won’t be invited to snuggle until they fall asleep (“with both legs in the bed mommy” – you have really got to get Stella a bigger bed!), you won’t be asked to follow them up and down and all around the playground, you won’t be the one they want to always sit next to at the dinner table. So, right now, never leave them guessing what you’ll say when they put the invite out – never leave them thinking “she might say no.”

So Kristin…if at all possible, go to the park, take your bikes out for a ride together, go to the ice cream store, stop and feed the ducklings, play on the playground, give under ducks, read the books, look at the artwork created just for you, whatever the request….DO IT ALL, because there will come a day when that little hand is reaching for another’s and you will so badly crave the feeling of it reaching for yours. Life is not too busy to literally stop and smell the roses – it’s going by so quickly that you can’t afford not to.

Right now say “no” mindfully as MUCH as you can to things that aren’t truly imminent and pressing in return for spending quality time on your children and on your own well being. This might be saying “no” to returning phone calls, answering texts, committing to anything outside of your family, putting courses or school work that will stress you out and limit your time with your kids on hold – there will be PLENTY of time for that afterwards – trust me – and even if there is not – you’ll be glad you placed first things first. Your kids want and deserve YOU – raw, real and beautiful YOU – not you on your cell phone, not you trying to balance everything, not you with a perfectly clean house, just YOU – the one who brought them into this world, you, the one who saw them through all their firsts in life, YOU, the only one that can be their universe right now. YOU are the only one that can do that exact job. Anyone else can do the jobs you are saying “yes” to right now, ANYONE (I know it may not feel that way, but trust me, there are lots of people that can fill in for you in life right now)– but if you say, “no” to the job of being a parent, no one, absolutely no one, can fill in that job for you. It will be the best investment of time, energy and love you have ever given.

Oh, and Kristin, you’re a great mom and you are doing a great job at raising your girls, you may not feel that way everyday, but you really are.

Ah October, you beautiful month you, here I am, sitting down at my kitchen table in an empty house, two spice-spiked autumn breeze candles with hints of ginger, amber and bergamot, plus a base note of musk (I don’t think autumn candle scents are overrated at all!) glow subtly beside me as the crisp autumn air is punctuated by the remaining warmth of the summer sun……

So where to begin this Fall…how about with education, or perhaps backing that up, let’s begin with the feelings of doubt and hesitation one feels about formal education. I write this post because it’s not only a boat I have talked with many clients about being in, it’s also a boat that I have been in myself that I had to step out of. The boat of doubt. The boat of, “I’m doing what I’m doing in life right now because the fear of doing anything else is paralyzing me and stopping me from stepping out of the boat.”

I was definitely there six years ago. I had graduated with an undergrad in psychology in 2002 and then worked with my family for years, always knowing that I wanted to be a Clinical Counsellor but never actually thinking that I was smart enough to pursue a Master degree. That fear of not feeling good enough, smart enough, capable enough, held me back and kept me in a very small boat on a giant sea of possibilities with little sense of direction.

In addition to the feelings of doubt and worry came a feeling of being pregnant, and it actually was more than a feeling, it was a reality. I was 29, pregnant and not living my dream. Then one day, the small, faint voice that sounded oddly enough like Stuart Smalley, got loud enough to convince me to pull up my boots and apply to the Gonzaga Masters of Counselling program.

On a chilly April morning at 4.5 months pregnant I headed into the Gonzaga University “pageant weekend”. It was like a very toned down Miss America….no bathing suit or evening gown portion, but certainly lots of time with the “judges”, (the profs of the Masters of Counselling program), and lots of time chatting up, figuring out and eyeing your fellow contestants, a portion of whom would be the lucky few to make it into the two year graduate program. If ever there was a time that I felt incompetent and doubtful, it was that weekend, not knowing if I would be worthy enough to make it into the program.

Fast forward 5 months and one, one week old baby girl later, I started the Gonzaga Masters of Counselling program. A two year journey of intense learning, personal and professional growth and moments of extreme relief followed by periods of stress and anxiety. To make this story “pithy” (a nod to my prof Elizabeth’s favorite expression), I did it! I received my Masters in Counselling Psychology and today I can say that I am confidently in the place that I know God wants me to be -raising a family and collaborating with others to help them live their best life.

I tell you that story because, as I mentioned above, my story of self doubt is not unique. I have had the privilege of counselling and coaching many amazing individuals who for various reasons have stopped short of pursuing their dreams, many of which involve pursuing higher education. The reasons vary: the timing is not right, the cost is too high, they are too young/old, but underlying most is the common ground of fear and doubt that they are not good or smart enough.

Let me be the first to tell you from personal experience that you ARE good enough. You CAN do it! It is a step by step process. It is a staggering mountain to look at from the base, but by breaking down the journey into one step at a time and literally just putting one foot in front of the other day after day and pacing yourself, that once unattainable peak becomes more and more within reach.

In the past year I have had the opportunity of seeing six clients begin formal education that they once thought was an unrealistic goal. Each one is now invested in education that is meaningful to them and pursuing goals in fields they are truly passionate about.

For other clients, the education may not be in a formal setting such as a college or university classroom; however, I believe education plays a massive role in the therapeutic process. First, there is the learning about one’s own self – how you process information about yourself and others, how you form your set of beliefs and values, and why you make the conclusions that you do. The first part of therapy is really an education about you, dissecting all the parts that make you tick and then tuning the parts up and putting them all back together in a way that makes sense for you.

Second, education is gained through various forms that can include but are not limited to reading, in session teaching, exposure therapy (a fancy way of saying trying things that you have been scared to try in the past out), journaling, meditating, and praying.

The ways in which we learn to grow are endless. Most of us just need to take the giant leap of faith and believe that once we jump, we can actually soar!

DID YOU KNOW: For those in universities such as UBC-O, many counselling services, including those by yours truly, are either fully or partially covered? If ever there is a time to seek counselling it is during the strain and stress of school! Check out your benefit package today to see if you qualify. Here is UBC-O’s information for current students.

Probably the first item I ever bought at J Crew was a shirt that read, “These are the days”…..Which can be taken any number of ways…..the way I take for the most part is, “These are the days, enjoy them because they’ll be gone before I know it” (or so everyone tells me). But then there is the interpretation of “These are the days, hold on for dear life because life is messy and grueling and there are some days when you don’t feel anything and feel everything all at the same time.” Such was my day yesterday.

For no apparent reason at all I was feeling very blah. bland. gross. off. and dare I say, ugly, yes, I said it, the “u” word. Yep, me, the girl who appears to have it all together was feeling ugly. Ugly on the inside and ugly on the outside. For starters, I was feeling like a bad mom, perhaps it was the cavity that appeared on the dentist x-ray despite my diligent attempts at brushing and flossing L’s teeth like my life depended on it, perhaps it was the not only one, but two pee-pee accidents (that’s mom talk for urinating in yer undies) S had whilst in the dentist office (one of which was caused by me getting upset at her that she wasn’t being quiet enough for the dentist to tell me that my daughter’s cavity would only cost me selling of one of my kidney’s on the black market to fix), or perhaps it was because I had all of 4 minutes to get out of my pajamas, into the shower (while entertaining a waiting audience of littles on the other side of the glass and refusing to open nail polish lids and cautioning against pinched fingers) lotion up, do my hair and makeup, make myself breakfast, brush my teeth and only be 7 minutes late for our dentist appointment. **Only the shower happened, in case you are wondering, and I’m pretty sure I still have soap on my back.** My hair was going on day 6 of not being washed and my chin was breaking out like a bad habit to the point that I could have had a starring role in a Pro Active commercial next to Adam Levine. So yes, “These are the days” J Crew, they really, truly are.

These are the days when feelings of failure take over and no matter how hard I try, how much I know or how much I want to fix myself, there is something that keeps me from doing all of that. Something that keeps me wallowing, feeling sorry for myself, there is a comfort there, in the pity, sadness and purposelessness. These are the days when I like to be in that space. Is that so wrong?

In all my years of counselling wisdom I have come to the point of knowing when to “let”, when to sit quiet and let emotions be. Truly feel emotions instead of trying to “fix”. There is a certain beauty in it. There is beauty in imperfection. There is a vulnerability that I actually want my kids to see in me when I feel this way. I want them to see that although there are rainbows, there are also unforeseen storms that we must weather that eventually create that beautiful arch of color in the sky. To quote a song from the Garden State soundtrack (and date myself), there is beauty in the breakdown.

So feel it. Feel those emotions, be them good, bad or otherwise. Give them space and room to breath. Don’t let them take over your life, but do allow yourself to sit for a moment (or day) in them and then figure them out, figure out what the lesson was, look at the rainbow and get up on your feet again and continue on your journey, because after all, “these are the days”.

Adele Northan was born in 1915 on a homestead in Saskatchewan. She had 8 brothers and one sister. Being raised in the 1920’s and 30’s in a large family, where resources were always tight, she was not able to fulfill her dream of being a nurse.

Subsequent to Bible School in Winnipeg she moved to Detroit where she worked in a home of a wealthy family. She had met Joe Kornalewski, who had emigrated from Germany, at her parents’ home in the early 30’s. Joe was friends with her brothers. In 1940, Joe who had gone to seminary training was asked to serve a church in Leduc, Alberta. However, the call to serve the church was based on his coming as a married man. That was the catalyst for Adele and Joe to marry in Detroit in 1940. It was a great marriage.

While in Leduc 2 children were added to the family, David in 1942 and Tim in 1945. In 1946 the family moved to Minitonas, Manitoba and then on to Kelowna in 1952, where Joe served the Grace Baptist Church.

Almost immediately after the move to Kelowna, Adele started looking after some elderly ladies in the parsonage. Her desire to be a nurse many years before, still a motivating factor. In 1957, when Joe retired as pastor, Joe and Adele built a house on Pandosy Street, one block from the Kelowna General Hospital (KGH). This home is currently the hostel located across the street from KGH. The thought was to provide room and board for Registered Nurses who moved to Kelowna. Virtually from the first day the home was complete, Adele was asked, for a short term, to look after an elderly lady that needed to move out of KGH. That lady and up to 14 elderly folks lived in the Adele’s home with her family until 1962 when Adele and her husband built the first Private Hospital in the Okanagan Valley, named, Still Waters.

While it was a Private Hospital licensed under the Hospital Act of BC, its purpose was to serve the elderly who had nursing care needs. In 1968, the Joseph Benjamin Residence, which provided residential accommodation, was opened adjacent to Still Waters on Sutherland Ave., named in memory of Adele’s husband who had passed away in 1965.

With her vision of wanting to provide excellent care to an ever increasing population of elderly, her two sons, who had joined the family enterprise, built Lakeshore Place in Kelowna, Westside Care in West Kelowna, and Sun Pointe Village in Rutland.

By this time a third generation had joined the family enterprise and continued providing for the housing needs of seniors in the Okanagan by developing in partnership with the Hall family, the 5 Regency Retirement Resorts.

All of this was possible because of the vision and foresight of one remarkable woman, who had steadfast faith in God and His plan for her life. Adele’s legacies of generosity, caring and serving have been passed on to both her children and grandchildren. In her lifetime she traveled extensively, played golf into her 90’s and continues to be an avid reader. It would be a significant omission from Adele’s story if we didn’t mention the 1000s of scrubbers she has crocheted and given away to everyone she encountered. This gesture endured her to many people.

Adele has touched countless lives as pastor’s wife, a care provider, employer, mentor and friend. She gave many women their first employment opportunity. She was and continues to be an inspiration to her family, her friends and those who she comes in contact with. It is only fitting that a lady of her character should live to celebrate her 100th birthday.